First Eggzchange, Etc...

i had the great fortune to make a first-time TUF give away...a  half-dozen eggs to stephanie and earnest, our lovely neighbors a couple houses down.  i say eggzchange, because look at that smile i got in return!  i promised them many more eggs in the future, and thanked them for helping us begin to fulfill one of the original TUF objectives.  i am so glad we have neighbors willing to accept, and even endorse, our attempted TUF exploits.  plus just being generally awesome.  THANKS Y'ALL.

it is possible that this weekend will see the acquisition of two new chicken additions.  a colleague-turned-friend has a full-on RANCH not far from here, just a little further east down the road really.  austin is super-urban north, south and west of/on IH35, but one goes just a bit east and shortly finds one's self in climes quite rural.  the ATX is expanding so quickly, though, that even my friend's ranch might be a totally urban farm sooner than anyone imagines!

pearl and ninja have been doing incredibly well...it is a joy to watch their daily scratching and peckings and explorings.  they have both learned to go up and down the coop ramp, and are consistently putting themselves to bed when the sun goes down!  i even trimmed pearl's nails a couple weeks ago, and she didn't seem to mind that much.  they are giving us an egg a day, sometimes two.

in terms of resource consumption, we acquired these two chickens on may 15th.  they came with a $2 bag of organic chicken feed from callahan's that we still have not yet exhausted, although we will have to get some more in the next week or so.  the next day we got a $2 bag of hay from same establishment, and only JUST ran out of that.  and i am liberal with the hay.  first thing each morning i let them out of the coop whilst doing dog duty, then close the ramp up at night after they have hit the hay.  (literally!  that's where that COMES from! well, kind of.)  anyway, thus far, the time/financial commitment has been dwarfed by the eggs and entertainment they have provided.  i am definitely enjoying chicken keeping, and highly recommend it!  and, of course, i am looking forward to our near-future additions.

pearl and gwen

the coop, contents, and interested parties

in other TUF-related news, dan grilled the most delicious farmer's market ThunderHeart Bison NY strip steaks i've ever had in my LIFE the other night...they were marinated in worchestershire sauce, fish sauce, cayenne pepper, and sea salt, and then grilled about 6-8 minutes per side.  he MAY have basted them with butter while they were grilling. MAYBE.  they were pretty thick, and we like them horrendously rare.  paired simply with rice and green beans, the dogs didn't even get any bites. well, okay, they got a TINY BIT at the end. i aim for full disclosure.

i mentioned in the previous post that i would find and/or create a list of ethical fish choices; as pointed out by a dear old friend, the Monterey Bay Aquarium has put out an amazing list!  because just posting that link was too easy, a future post will be dedicated to my own handlings of fish on the "good choice" or SuperGreen List.

so stay tuned for that, new chickens, and more TUF blither! thank you for reading, Dear Readers!